[BN] the know

Taglianetti jury excused until Friday morning for closing arguments

The Chautauqua County Courthouse in Mayville where the jury will hear closing arguments Friday in the murder trial of Anthony “Rob” Taglianetti, accused in the September 2012 slaying of Clymer School Superintendent Keith Reed. (Mark Mulville/Buffalo News)

MAYVILLE – The defense rested this morning without murder defendant Anthony “Rob” Taglianetti II taking the stand in his Chautauqua County Court trial.

Judge John T. Ward excused the jury until Friday for closing arguments.

Defense attorney Nathaniel L. Barone called two witnesses, one on Wednesday and the other this morning.

Barone tried to call a third witness, Sara Alishauskas, a friend of Reed who had already testified on behalf of the prosecution earlier in the trial.

But the judge denied his attempt to call Alishauskas.

Ward called the effort “speculative” so he did not allow her to take the stand.

Barone questioned Dunkirk city police Lt. Mark Polowy about photographs Polowy took of a .45 caliber handgun found in the pickup truck of Keith L. Reed Jr.

Authorities charged Taglianetti with killing the Clymer Central School superintendent in 2012.

Investigators found the loaded handgun inside a holster in the center console of Reed’s red Silverado, which was parked in the driveway of his Clymer home.

Barone called just one witness Wednesday, Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Deputy Todd Beckerink.

After a conference with Barone and District Attorney David W. Foley, Ward decided to excuse the jury early Wednesday.

Beckerink’s testimony centered primarily on a small arsenal of guns and ammunition investigators found inside Reed’s Clymer home during their homicide investigation.

Weapons were found in the kitchen, a spare bedroom and Reed’s bedroom during a search on Sept. 24, 2012, the same day Reed’s body was found with three bullet wounds in a hedgerow outside the house.

Beckerink, an officer with the Ellicott Police Department at the time and the assistant manager of a countywide forensics team, took roughly 200 photos inside Reed’s house, including several pictures of handguns, long guns and ammunition that were shown to jurors.

One of the handguns was found in the kitchen, near the stove, inside a closed cupboard between a bag of sugar and a can of Slim-Fast, Beckerink said.

Several other revolvers were found inside their gun cases upstairs in the house in a spare bedroom that Beckerink said appeared to be used as a large closet or storage space.

Investigators also found several long guns and ammunition in the room, and a handgun and a long gun in Reed’s bedroom.

Beckerink also testified he was aware that a handgun had been found in Reed’s pickup truck in the driveway, although Beckerink did not take a photograph of that discovery.